Penguins star Sidney Crosby has been out for what seems like an eternity with a concussion, and it looks like that will continue for the time being even though he has been skating for over a week. This means it will be tough for him to make it back in time for the beginning of the first round of the NHL playoffs and, I'm guessing, even beyond that.
↵↵↵"We've said it before and continue to say, he has a couple more steps to go in his rehabilitation before he can even think about returning to play," coach Dan Bylsma said Friday. "I don't know how fast that's going to happen. I don't know if it's going to happen.
↵"There's no way to even make a timetable and considering that he has two more steps to go through, it would seem like anything in the immediate future is out of the question."
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This doesn't sound promising, unfortunately. Crosby could well be the difference between the Penguins being a playoff team and being a team that exits the playoffs in the first or second round.
↵The Penguins appear likely to play the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs. The Pens lost to the Lightning 2-1 in the two teams' last matchup on March 31.